Did you know you could make ricotta cheese at home? And that it will be super easy and taste better than store bought? AND you can make it in your Instant Pot? No, you’re not pressure cooking it per se, but the pressure cooker makes it that much easier! Read on for details!

The ricotta cheese is made using the yogurt function, of course!

Cami introduced me to this amazing toast topper idea, that I highly suggest you slather all over some Instant Pot Whole Wheat Crusty Bread. A generous scoop of ricotta cheese + a generous scoop of plain Greek yogurt + a liberal swirl of honey and mix it all up. Smear that on some warm crusty bread, add some blueberries and drizzle more honey on top. Wowzer!

My kids and I love Cami’s Healthy Banana Ricotta Muffins. Manicotti is also a favorite around my house, where we use plenty of ricotta cheese for the stuffing.

In an ideal world, I would love to make most everything homemade – bread, ranch, pizza sauce, yogurt, etc, etc. But in reality there’s this thing called life, and it’s just not allowing that kind of time.

Instant Pot Ricotta however is so easy and quick, and, most importantly, tastes better than store bought, that it’s one of those things I actually do make often. No, not every time, playing dress up with fluorescent eye shadow with my daughter still takes priority over cheese.

The other great thing about making you own ricotta is that you can decide the texture and consistency you want. For a thicker, drier cheese, go for a longer strain.

For a smoother, creamier ricotta, strain for a shorter amount of time.

Now, let’s talk details. Follow the simple printable recipe to learn how easy it is to make in a Instant Pot. But here are a few things you need to consider or have on hand before you begin.

*This post contains affiliate links. Thank you!

The Instant Pot makes this easy with a push of the button and does not scorch the bottom, which is why this is my preferred method.

You will need something to strain the curds from the whey. Here are 3 options:

Instant Pot Ricotta Cheese

Instant Pot Ricotta Cheese is quick, easy and so creamy delicious. You’ll also save money by making this at home.

Author:tidbits-marci.com

Prep Time:5 mins

Total Time:About 1 hour

Yield:2 Cups

Ingredients

½ gallon whole milk

1 ½ tsp salt

⅓ cup lemon juice

Instructions

Combine the milk and salt in the pot of the Pressure Cooker. Put the lid in place and set valve to seal position. Press the yogurt feature and press adjust until it says boil.

When the Instant Pot beeps, remove the lid (it won’t have built up any pressure), give the milk a stir and then use a thermometer to check the temperature. Press saute and warm the milk to 190 degrees, stirring often.

When the milk reaches 190 degrees, unplug the pressure cooker and add the lemon juice. Give it a very gentle stir. The milk will start to separate immediately.

Let the pot of milk sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. The milk will separate into white, milky curds and watery, yellow colored whey.

Without stirring it, pour the curds in either a colander lined with a double layer of cheesecloth, a nut milk bag, or a handy yogurt strainer.

Let the ricotta drain for 10-60 minutes depending on how thick you want it. If it becomes too thick, you can stir some of the whey back into the ricotta.

Scrape the ricotta into a bowl. It can be used right away or stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

I would love to hear if you give it a try or if you have any questions we can help you with! Thanks for being here, and don’t forget to pin the recipe for later.

*This post contains affiliate links, thank you!

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Marci,
I love how you and Cami work together and support one another.
Our favorite recipe that I have made so far is “Beef Roast with Potatoes and Carrots”. This recipe is in the instant pot recipe book included when purchased. It was delicious.
The ease of using the instant pot amazes me.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and your recipes.
Jill

My favorite Instant Pot recipe is whole chicken 3 ways:
1) IP “roast” chicken (2 cups water, trivet, Manual for 45 mins, NPR)
2) Remove meat and set aside
3) Place bones and skin back in IP and make Bone Broth. (Add water, Manual for 240 mins)
4) Use the chicken meat for any meals. My daughter’s fav this week is Chicken Salad
5) When Bone Broth is done, mash the spent bones and skin together and add them to my doggies’ food.
Use up ALL the whole chicken, in the Instant Pot!

As I’ve said before, I am new to instant pot cooking, brand new! I “baked” some large beautiful Idaho russet spuds last night, and my husband (I swear) ate half his weight in fluffy, buttery potatoes. Delicious! And the butternut squash was divine. Looking forward to many more successful adventures!

I can’t pick a favorite, it’s to hard! SInce it’s Yogurt button theme week … my favorite thing to do with the yogurt button …

Make my custard ice cream base on Yogurt/Boil. It heats evenly and slowly so I don’t need to worry about burning or tempering eggs. Once it passes 140 degrees, I will switch to sauté to speed up the process.

I have a hard time deciding my favorite recipe. I love how it cooks hard boiled eggs. We have our own chickens and it was so frustrating to peel boiled hard boiled eggs. We had tried every trick in the book, but nothing worked. I also love making need stew. My recipe use to take me almost 3 hours, so I never had time to make it during the week. I love that I can cook whatever I want any night!

I have several favorites, but the one I am most excited about right now is IP mashed potatoes. Life changing!!!! I LOVE the idea that you can make them a few hours ahead of time and they still taste great and have the same great texture! I can’t wait to use IP mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving Dinner!!!

Favorite recipe in the IP is like trying to pick a favorite kid, not possible. Try Mel’s Creamy Tomato Potato Soup. It’s so good and so fast! Also Homemade BBQ sauce with country style pork ribs nestled inside, cook until fall apart tender. Sauté the bbq sauce until reduced a bit and serve all over rice. Glorious.

My favorite IP recipe has been summer potato salad — cook the potatoes and eggs together, stir in the rest of the ingredients, and it’s ready! My husband’s favorite is IP cheesecake, with IP lasagne a close second.

I have so many recipes… in my head! I use my IP several times a week. a lot of the time I just ‘dump’ stuff in, add spices and enough liquid, hit the manual button and let ‘er rip. most recently is my Cheater’s Chili – using ground beef, chunky salsa and canned diced tomatoes w taco seasoning for a fast dinner.

My favorite thing so far… that’s a tough one! I don’t think we’ve had a bad recipe yet. I guess the two things we make most often, though, would be seasoned pork chops with root veggies, and coconut milk yogurt (we have dairy issues in or family). Love your blog!

My 6.5 lb bone-in turkey breast! While I’ve not liked anything I’ve done, so far, this turkey breast made me a believer in turkey again! It was so moist and yet cooked completely (not spongy – yuck)! Yeah, I’ll do that one again for sure!

As to my favorite, I don't think I can pick. I love how easy it makes things like baked potatoes and hard boiled eggs. I love how fast I can turn frozen chicken breasts into tender shreds (with just about any flavoring I want). If you asked my kids (especially my youngest) it would hands-down be Mac and Cheese, though.

No idea what would be my favorite as I don’t have an IP yet..key word is yet..I’m hoping to get one for Christmas (it’s on my list like five times! !)Or maybe I’ll be really blessed, n win from you!!I’ve been very intrintrigued with the vanilla n the flavor infused water! I taught home-ec n I’m sure that the IP would be a great way to get students excited about cooking!!

I’ve only had my Instant Pot for a few weeks and so far my favorite recipe is Shrimp Scampi Paella! It’s spectacular and cooks in 5 minutes!
I purchased your book and made vanilla! Saving pits in the freezer to make almond extract and can’t wait to try some more recipes!
Thank you for a beautiful book!
Nancy

It seems the whole point of an IP is that one not have to pull out thermometers and manually check temperatures (bring to 190)
So this seems another “sledge hammer to drive a tack” over-use of an IP.
Why not just boil the milk in a saucepan to 190 and skip the IP altogether?

Peter, the yogurt boil cycle for me is a convenience factor. You could absolutely do it in a pan on the stove top, but I find the gentle heating cycle of the yogurt button to be just the right temperature to heat it gradually without burning. You can of course achieve that on the stove top as well if that’s how you prefer to do things. I like to think of it as another convenient use for the pressure cooker.

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Welcome! I’m Marci, wife to my motorcycle dream man and mother of 3. I have a passion for creating and cooking delicious masterpieces in my kitchen and am ecstatic to share my discoveries on TIDBITS! I like my food tasty, wholesome, memorable, and always, ALWAYS followed by dark, salty chocolate.

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